AIPS II.3 Recap

Pot-Limit Omaha was the fare today in the third event of AIPS II. I've read a bit and played a few SNGs in advance, so I had at least a bit of a clue headed into it. Still, nothing that would lead me to think I'd make any noise in this event. And I didn't. Though I did have a couple of very interesting hands along the way.

I was card dead for about the entire first hour, winning only a couple of measly pots. One out of the big blind when I hit two pair on the flop, bet 1/2 pot and scared everyone away. Another when it folded around to me in the BB. Yippee.

With my stated goal of making it to the first break, I get dealt this hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1960171418: AIPS II Event #3 (14164302), Table 4 - 50/100 - Pot Limit Omaha - 12:57:58 ET - 2007/03/10
Seat 3: djm182 (873)
Dealt to djm182 [Td Ad 4h Qd]

I don't like the three diamonds, but this is about as good as I've had all day. I limp in and see this flop:

*** FLOP *** [Qc 5c 4d]

I'm in late position - only one to act behind me - and it checks around to me. I make a half pot bet and get one caller

The 3h comes on the turn, and I only have 498 chips left so I shove 'em all in, fearing the hell out of an A2 or 67. The opponent stews - he HAS to call and he does and shows this:

MacAnthony shows [Jc Kc Ac 9d]

ye Gods. Nut flush draw. But he's not yet paired so he can't make a better two pair or a straight with what he's got. I have to dodge eight outs (all remaining clubs, save 4c which would boat me up). And I do and I survive to the break.

Then the second verse is the same as the first. I go card dead again and whittle my chips down in the second hour. I have just under 700 chips left and I'm about to pay a 300 chip BB when...

...I get moved to a different table. And I'm UTG + 2 so I get a couple of bonus hands out of this. Of course, i can play none of them. Finally when the BB comes to me, I stare down at:

Dealt to djm182 [7c 7d Kh As]

It's go time. And huzzah!

*** RIVER *** [Kc 4d Kd 8d] [Ks]

QUADS, baby, and I'm back in it. Now I have over 2200 chips, which is still less than 10 BBs, but at least I can take a shot at seeing a flop or two (remember, it's Omaha where limping is common and encouraged).

Four hands later I'm out. Here's the gory detail:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1960476263: AIPS II Event #3 (14164302), Table 8 - 150/300 - Pot Limit Omaha - 13:53:17 ET - 2007/03/10
Seat 2: winkdaddy (7,580)
Seat 3: Barnard801 (1,130)
Seat 4: PokerGeek (3,962)
Seat 5: MacAnthony (5,262)
Seat 6: 9Gaiter (7,163)
Seat 7: rascony (3,898)
Seat 8: djm182 (2,088)
Seat 9: imtoomuch4u (7,521)
Barnard801 posts the small blind of 150
PokerGeek posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ks Qs Qh As]
MacAnthony folds
9Gaiter folds
rascony calls 300
djm182 calls 300 <--Horrendous. I should've bet pot here to scare people away, but the three spades scared me just enough not to. Big mistake
imtoomuch4u folds
winkdaddy folds
Barnard801 raises to 1,130, and is all in <--'cause now I have to face this
PokerGeek calls 830 <--and this
rascony has 15 seconds left to act
rascony folds
djm182 raises to 2,088, and is all in <--I'm committed at this point anyway
PokerGeek calls 958

djm182 shows [Ks Qs Qh As]
Barnard801 shows [4d Kd 3c 4c]
PokerGeek shows [9c Qc Td 9s]
This is good. Aces are still out there. Only one more spade is gone, so I have 9 of 'em left. No Js and only one 10 gone. BUT I think I might have scared PokerGeek away had I raised on my first opportunity to act. He has a strong starting hand, but with nothing higher than a Q, he *might* have thrown it away...and I wish he would have

*** FLOP *** [8c 5s 8d]
*** TURN *** [8c 5s 8d] [5c] OK. Just need to dodge a club. I'm OK if one of the 8s or 5s comes up and we chop
*** RIVER *** [8c 5s 8d 5c] [Tc] DOH!

djm182 shows two pair, Queens and Eights
PokerGeek shows a flush, Queen high
PokerGeek wins the side pot (1,916) with a flush, Queen high
Barnard801 shows a flush, Ten high
PokerGeek wins the main pot (3,690) with a flush, Queen high
Barnard801 stands up
djm182 stands up

Finished 22nd overall out of 65. Far better than my expectations. And even though I'm disappointed that I went out on *this* hand, I got all my chips in ahead with a pretty darn good PLO hand.

AIPS II: Stud

Well my expectations were very low for this event. Stud is my least favorite of the HORSE games, and I have little knowledge as to how to play it. My strategy going in was to wait for good starting hands, play position (relative to the bring-in) aggressively when appropriate, and hope for some luck.

It started off with me getting a handful of pairs to start, and never once improving. I stole a couple of smaller pots, but was just holding on. About 35 minutes in, I get a face-up A in early position. I complete it, and it folds around to the bring-in who calls. I don't improve 'til 6th street when I pair up a J, but I'm representing a good hand the whole way and he's calling me the whole way. On my 6th street bet he raises with a pair of 2s showing. Long story short, he was dealt [3 3] 2, then drew A 4 2 to follow and spiked a third 2 on 7th street for a boat. I'm down to 643 chips and I'm reeling.

Five hands later, down to 598 chips, I wake up with [K K] A. Now my A was one of three showing and I was the next-to-last A to act and I decided to raise no matter what and play this hand super-aggressively. It ends up with *five* people going to 4th street (uh oh). I draw a blank. I raise (yes, raise) to 2x and again, all five people make it to 5th street. Yet another blank, but I bet it again and this time at least two people get out of the way. Still, I'm vulnerable as all heck, though nobody's board looks particularly fearsome. On 6th street, one guy picks up a straight-draw, but I bet out and go all-in. Two callers to 7th street and I still just have my Ks.

And isn't this beautiful:
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ks Kd As 3d 2s Qh] [Kh]

Trip kings defeated AA and 88 respectively.

I then go on to win three of the next four pots, and (OMG, WTF), I'm in 4th place overall. Ye Gods, I have no business being in the top half of this field and was *thisclose* to being on the rail. Now I'm in 4th.

Right before the first break, I wake up with As Js 7s, land a fourth spade on 4th street, and only one other spade is burnt. Of course, I only end up making a measely pair of 5s, but that holds up as the other guy was also chasing a flush that never came. That gave me over 5200 chips...and this:



The mother f*ng chip lead in a Stud tourney at the first break. Yeah, yeah, 2/3 of the field was still left, but this was huuyouge (tm Francesa).

After the break, it was brick city and I just limped along for quite a while. Eventually I hang on and make the money. Then just after cashing, I revert into full donk mode for this hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1805863842: AIPS II Event #2 (12561120), Table 12 - 400/800 Ante 75 - Limit Seven Card Stud - 23:04:54 ET - 2007/02/15
Seat 1: DaBeef2112 (931)
Seat 2: ErsatzSantiag0 (10,551)
Seat 3: Blazman (4,905)
Seat 4: chuckaaa88 (28,446)
Seat 5: djm182 (4,414) <-- hobbling along near last place. There are about 16 people left
Seat 6: Skoach (754)
Seat 7: ChipNut (5,247)
Seat 8: MrShock (12,367)
DaBeef2112 antes 75
ErsatzSantiag0 antes 75
Blazman antes 75
chuckaaa88 antes 75
djm182 antes 75
Skoach antes 75
ChipNut antes 75
MrShock antes 75

*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to DaBeef2112 [Tc]
Dealt to ErsatzSantiag0 [4h]
Dealt to Blazman [9c]
Dealt to chuckaaa88 [3d]
Dealt to djm182 [Qc Qh] [6h] <--This is pretty good. And I'll be first to act against a pretty weak board.
Dealt to Skoach [7h]
Dealt to ChipNut [4s]
Dealt to MrShock [4c]
chuckaaa88 is low with [3d]
chuckaaa88 brings in for 100
djm182 completes it to 400
Skoach folds
ChipNut folds
MrShock folds
DaBeef2112 folds
ErsatzSantiag0 folds
Blazman raises to 800 <-- Strong player. Maybe trying to push me off my 6
chuckaaa88 folds
djm182 raises to 1,200
Blazman calls 400 <-- OK, let's see what he's got.
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Blazman [9c] [Kc]
Dealt to djm182 [Qc Qh 6h] [7d]
Blazman bets 400
djm182 calls 400 <-- I'm immediately nervous
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Blazman [9c Kc] [As]
Dealt to djm182 [Qc Qh 6h 7d] [Th] <--Right here I should be folding
Blazman bets 800
djm182 calls 800 <--He re-raised with the 9 showing on 3rd st. Get AWAY from this
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Blazman [9c Kc As] [Kh]
Dealt to djm182 [Qc Qh 6h 7d Th] [3h]
Blazman bets 800
djm182: grrrr
djm182 has 15 seconds left to act <--In the tank, though I have NO clue what I was thinking
djm182 calls 800 <-- Nooooooooooooooooo
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to djm182 [Qc Qh 6h 7d Th 3h] [8d]
Blazman bets 800
djm182 folds
Uncalled bet of 800 returned to Blazman
Blazman shows [Ah Ac 9c Kc As Kh 9s] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
Blazman wins the pot (7,100)

And I'm left with 1100 chips. I hobble around with that for a while, and end up getting 7th streeted to death to finish 13th.

Had you told me at the start of it all that I'd finish 13th, I'd be giddy. But I badly misplayed that one hand and it cost me 3/4 of my chips. Sometimes you just gotta get away.

AIPSII.1 Donk Off

This is how I donked off my stack in AIPS II Event 1. First some background - I'm playing far looser than I'd like, but I've been getting enough limping/raising hands to justify sticking around for some of these.

My opponent here, Fraser_Park_Boy, has been loose aggressive and has shown some incredibly lame bluffs.

Full Tilt Poker Game #1680797953: AIPS II Event #1 (10828819), Table 2 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:46:46 ET - 2007/01/27
Seat 1: HotMonkeyLove (915)
Seat 2: C furbee (1,590)
Seat 3: djm182 (1,005)
Seat 4: Squib (2,065)
Seat 5: babaghanoush (650)
Seat 6: ElSnarfGrande (1,275)
Seat 7: Boil Dunce Son (2,675)
Seat 8: Fraser_Park_Boy (1,320)
Seat 9: ThirdHand (3,810)
C furbee posts the small blind of 40
djm182 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Kc Ts] decent in the big blind
Squib folds
babaghanoush folds
ElSnarfGrande folds
Boil Dunce Son folds
Fraser_Park_Boy calls 80
ThirdHand folds
HotMonkeyLove calls 80
C furbee calls 40
djm182 checks
*** FLOP *** [5d Kh 5h] Top pair, but I need to sniff out if the 5 is out there
C furbee checks
djm182 bets 160
Fraser_Park_Boy calls 160 He's calling everything so this doesn't tell me much
HotMonkeyLove folds
C furbee folds
*** TURN *** [5d Kh 5h] [6c]
djm182 bets 320
Fraser_Park_Boy calls 320 hmmmmmm...i'm concerned.
*** RIVER *** [5d Kh 5h 6c] [Th] OK, top two pair, I'm essentially committed here and I kind of like this. He could have AK, Kx very easily
djm182 bets 445, and is all in
Fraser_Park_Boy: dont worry im not on the flush
Fraser_Park_Boy calls 445
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djm182 shows [Kc Ts] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
Fraser_Park_Boy shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Fives) Yep, luckbox wakes up w/ KK and flops a boat. I'm through. Of course, I should have been concerned w/ the smooth calls. But it was too easy to see a double up opportunity here. Nobody took this guy to the river, but I didn't need to be the first either.
Fraser_Park_Boy wins the pot (2,170) with a full house, Kings full of Fives
djm182 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,170 | Rake 0
Board: [5d Kh 5h 6c Th]
Seat 1: HotMonkeyLove (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: C furbee (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: djm182 (big blind) showed [Kc Ts] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 4: Squib didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: babaghanoush didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ElSnarfGrande didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Boil Dunce Son didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Fraser_Park_Boy showed [Kd Ks] and won (2,170) with a full house, Kings full of Fives
Seat 9: ThirdHand didn't bet (folded)